Facing Fate: Evil Mist Rebirth [The Zodiac Addition] is a mod categorized as part of the hardest difficulty mods for Final Fantasy IX currently. It was build off of the Final Fantasy IX: Unleashed mod, with extra difficulty added to it in the process, yet balanced a tad bit for player's advantage. It features not only a challenging difficulty, but also extra scenes to explore off the main path of story line, hunts for new enemies to defeat and earn valuable rewards for and overall, provide a new experience to FFIX players. The subtitle: "The Zodiac Addition" defines the overall gameplay characteristics of the players; inspired with various gameplay mechanics from FFXII: The International Zodiac Job System and my own game. Each character is now assigned to a specific Job, corresponding to the Zodiac signs.

Models:9 new models, see credits in game, some from my own game, other remake of characters including a CGI style Beatrix and HD model Rydia from Final Fantasy IV.

Chocobo Hot & Cold:Mini games' timers have been increased to cater to the Speed boost and the sped-up timer. Allowing this to still be usable in Mini Games.Can now obtain more than 1 chocograph per Hot & Cold game.

HD Backgrounds:Compatible & mandatory. See the readme.

Saves:Unfortunately, original saves don't work well because of the extra scenes & rearranged abilities.

Overall Synopsis:Necron's resurrection & vengeance to finish out what the previous embodiment was sent out to do. It's linked with events of FFIV: The After Years; Necron recreation of the Mysterious Girl & the Maenads to obliterate the 'prime target'; (Model: Derrick) Who happens to be into and taken on the art of summoning and for that very reason, Necron wants him annihilated. The mod features Rydia from FFIV due to this plot twist now; to warn and fight along with the innocent victims that were sent to land of Gaia during the era of Final Fantasy IX's time period, by Necron, through the Interdimensional elevator~transportation of the Maenads. The Maenads used a shard, activating such elevator to come to our reality. Once they found their 'prime target', they initiated their program and used the shard to take them back through the Interdimensional elevator. Through the process; these victims were sent here to relive, feeble and forget who they are and eventually evolve into the original souls that they now abstract. With use of a model importer, the mod was to feature an extra scene that would happen if you have a save file that is more than 26 hours long, to show the victims slowly forming back into the original souls of Gaia. That would be Zidane, Dagger, Steiner, Freya, Quina etc.The Summon Program; which is used to give the Maenads summoning powers, control Eidolons and Espers and grow their strength, the world of Gaia is now cloaked with augmented monsters; aimed to take the victims out, ordered by Necron.

Extra scenes include: "The 2000 spirits of Gaia" where the previous souls of Gaia (Zidane, Vivi, Steiner, Dagger, Freya, Quina, Eiko and Amarant) speak to the victims to warn them of the dangers they face and have yet to see; also pointing how the monsters of the mist were never this violent while they were still alive. The "2000 spirits of Gaia" are the only ones who can give you access to the secret shop only after certain conditions are met.'2000' refers to the original release date of Final Fantasy IX.

Most of the original texts from FF9 are kept due to the process of evolving. As you draw closer towards the end, they begin to slightly realize what's going on.

The only person who seems to not be affected by all of this is Beatrix & the Tantalus troupe. They see different characters, but they still view them as Zidane, Vivi, Steiner, Dagger, etc.

Beatrix is the only one who actually realizes at some point that who she sees as Steiner now isn't the Steiner she used to know; and later sees that with the rest of the party, including Dagger.

The plot of my game 'Evil Mist Rebirth' and its story is teased vaguely through extra scenes; one of them being the "Dragoons" trial somewhere during Disc 4; its the longest trial and adds a lot of extra gameplay to FF9, original players never got. It's was first made as a parody to Kain's Tale in FFIV: The After Years, then was later teased with vague references to Evil Mist Rebirth.

Job system, it has been applied effectively and efficiently.

The jobs are as followed:

Zach (Zidane) - Uhlan

Steiner (Steiner)- Knight

Freya (Freya)- Archer

Derrick (Garnet/Dagger)- Red Battlemage

Luke (Cinna)- White Mage

Deniece (Eiko)- Shikari

Kevin (Quina)- Foebreaker

Vivi (As himself)- Time Battlemage

Maenad Menace (Amarant)- Monk (No skills due to limits)

Rydia (Marcus)- Black Mage

Beatrix (As herself)- Uhlan

Nyx (Blank)- Bushi

Job (brief) overview:

Uhlan- Can equip Spears — a devastating weapon that pierces through the armor of foes. Can use Expose technick.

Knight- Very strong warrior. Can equip Swords, Shields and Heavy Armors. Can use Souleater to inflict damage on enemy.

Archer- This warrior is trained in use of long range weapons. Can use Poach to steal items from enemies. Uses Bows.

Red Battlemage- Very versatile warrior that uses Maces as weapons. Specialized in Arcane magick, but can use all other types.

White Mage- Wizard that wields great spiritual power. Commands White magick such as Cure and Esuna.

Shikari- A well trained and skilled warrior. Uses Daggers. Can obtain First Aid technick.

Foebreaker- A warrior that uses all of nature as his weapons. Takes enemies down with one swing. Can use Axes and Wither technick.

Time Battlemage- A magick user that can equip small swords and commands Time magick such as Reflect and Haste.

Monk- A warrior who stands against hordes of enemies using bare hands. Can use Claws as weapon.

Black Mage- Wields the power of elemental magick. Can cause various status ailments. Fights with Staves.

Bushi- A swordsman that has dedicated his life to protect his king. Uses Katanas. Can obtain Souleater technick.

The job Foebreaker has had benefits added for the sacrifice of the “Eat” skill.

All Trance Commands are disabled permanently. (With the exception of the few Auto-Trance events during the game. This includes: Zidane’s first trance in Evil Forest, Vivi’s first trance on the Cargo Ship and Steiner’s trance during the attack of Alexandria). The trance is disable immediately after the battle.

Instead, 11 characters can use Mist abilities. (Previously, only EMR main characters could use Mist abilities).

Mist abilities are powerful abilities that expend the most MP for greater damage. Most Mist abilities play a 'game of chance' on foes.

Abilities are no longer learned from Weapon, Headgear and Armor equipments. Instead, they are learned through accessories found throughout the game.

Support abilities have been sorted to fit in a place suitable with the job system.

ALL 11 characters have a set of the same support abilities, with the exception of a few - suitable to their job. (Ex. Magic users have Half MP, etc.)

All cheats, except Speed Boost, are disabled.

"Have loot, will sell".Another tremendous difference.Every single enemy including bosses give either 0 or very little Gil now. Instead, they will most likely drop loot; which can be sold at shops for the most profit.All item/weapon/armor etc. prices have been doubled and the rest, tripled their original prices.

There are no status immunities.

If you've played FFIX: Unleashed before, this is about 2 steps higher.If you've never played FFIX: Unleashed, this isn't a good start.

This mod is the ultimate challenge, the hardest and only mod that provides a new experience; with numerous extra quests to keep the replay value intact.

Special Thanks:Thanks to Tirlititi for his program: Hades Workshop.Albeoris for his program: Memoria.Tri3fecta for custom BGM/SFX/Artwork and the like.

"The Zodiac Addition" seems to be a continuation (or prequel) of "Evil Mist Rebirth" that is another mod of the same author.Unless I'm mistaken, the videos about "Evil Mist Rebirth" give you a fine glimpse of what to expect from "The Zodiac Addition".

Ah yes indeed.... I'm sure he posted other videos, showing gameplay, in the past. But they don't seem here anymore (maybe he removed them or made them private... he tends to do that a lot). Nevermind, sorry.

"The Zodiac Addition" seems to be a continuation (or prequel) of "Evil Mist Rebirth" that is another mod of the same author.Unless I'm mistaken, the videos about "Evil Mist Rebirth" give you a fine glimpse of what to expect from "The Zodiac Addition".